Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Steve's take on retail and shopping local

TODAY'S BLOG IS written by Steve Rees, who works for us at Second String Music and is an excellent instrument repair guy, and fabulous musician.

I don't know if anyone reads these blogs but me, and I only do it to see if Rodney ever mentions me. But I asked Rodney if I could write one of his blogs and he said yes, so here it is.

Rodney writes a lot about being in a small local business. He probably writes more about that than the fact that they are a local music store. "Shop local," support local businesses," you hear it all the time, and it's not just Quincy. But why should you shop local, when the internet is killing mom and pop's livelihood and vanquishing their quaint brick and mortar business from the face of the earth?

The talking heads would tell you that when you spend money locally it goes back into the local economy, blah blah blah.

Here's a few questions for you ....

Why do people shell out big bucks to go to a live concert, often driving long distances, instead of staying home and listening to CDs or whatever, for free?

Why do people plan for two years and save money to see the Grand Canyon instead of staying home and watching an excellent documentary about it on the National Geographic channel ... for free?

Why do people go out and eat an expensive restaurant instead of staying home and cooking dinner for much less than the cost of eating out?

Why do people still go to the movies at the theater, dropping big bucks on the movie and even more money on the food and drink, instead of staying home and watching Netflix with a bag of microwave popcorn?

OHM. Shop your local music store. OHM.

I could go on and on. But here's the answer - it's the experience.

That's right, the experience.

People want to experience things. In the music store, you can feel a guitar, see a mandolin, hear cheerful conversation and pet the dog. (Editor's note: Steve and our cat, Fast Eddie, have a love-hate relationship, but that's for another blog.)

Two things that all of the above experiences have in common are:

1. Physical (and some would say spiritual) connectiveness to the experience, being able to use your five senses to be part of the experience.
2. Energy, the often overlooked part of the experience. An experience has an energy that comes from the interaction of all the energies present. That's why many folks, some regularly, come into the store just to browse. It makes them feel good. There is an energy that elevates their own vibrational energy. Rodney busts loose on a version of Mustang Sally, and people feel good. Angus wants the customer to throw his ball, and the customer feels good. Holding the guitar that you've dreamed of before buying it makes a person feel GREAT!

So shop local and support your local businesses for a few new reasons - for the experience, which equals connectiveness and an exchange of energy, and to feel good.